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Creamy Butternut Vinaigrette

I know, I know, I say this about every other recipe, but for real this one might be my favorite ever. I’ve been wanting to come up with a new vinaigrette since I was getting sick of my usual go-tos. I also wanted to incorporate something seasonal; that’s the farm girl in me! The words “butternut vinaigrette” popped into my head and I thought, well that sounds pretty weird but also amazing. Googled it, and to my surprise, it hadn’t been done yet! Since that is so rare in the crazy world that is food blogging, I figured that I have got to try this. So a few test-batches later, and here we are! Creamy Butternut Vinaigrette, perfect over arugula, spinach, quinoa salads, grilled veggies, and even rice bowls!

Now that you know my creative secret to coming up with recipes (hint: there is none!), let’s get into it. We are going to start with, you guessed it, butternut squash. I highly recommend you roast or saute it in cubes to get a more intensely sweet flavor, but if you are short on time or trying to limit oil, you can steam or boil the cubes instead. Be warned though, since this recipe has no added sugar, the final butternut vinaigrette will be much less flavorful! Roasting or sauteing will give you a much more well-rounded (and sweeter) dressing.

The other elements to this dressing are rather simple: extra virgin olive oil, shallots, salt, pepper, and white balsamic vinegar. If you can’t find white balsamic, regular balsamic will do, but it WILL mess with the pretty pale orange color that we have going on. With that being said, they taste pretty similar, except that white can be a little less sweet than regular.

But how is this dressing so creamy, you ask? The answer (and our seventh and final ingredient), New Barn unsweetened almondmilk. Made with actual real almonds (unlike so many store-bought almondmilks which are basically almond-flavored water!) so it doesn’t water the vinaigrette down. Instead, it thickens it, makes it super smooth and creamy, and actually adds nutrients! It’s the next best thing to home-made, and if you’ve had home-made before, you know how different it is from most store-bought ones. Since I don’t have time to make my own almondmilk, I opt for New Barn because it’s a brand I can trust and ingredients that I can understand.

This recipe is simple, easy, takes only 15 minutes, and is naturally vegan, gluten-free, and Whole30 compliant. (New Barn almondmilk is actuallly the first-ever Whole30-approved almondmilk so this one’s for you, Whole30 friends!)

As always, let me know if you try this recipe by tagging me @hashtagvegan and using #hashtagvegan on Instagram so I can see your creations!

A big thank you to New Barn for sponsoring this post! Recipe and opinions are 100% my own, and I only work with companies whose products I genuinely use, love, and recommend. For more info, check out my full disclosure here.